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Choosing A Payments Company - Entrepreneur Podcast Network – EPN

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Kathy Adams, President of Smart Merchants. Smart Merchants is a full-service payment technology company based in Seattle, Washington joins Enterprise Radio.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Kathy Adams discuss the following:

  1. What is a payments technology company?
  2. How did you enter the industry?
  3. Why did you start Smart Merchants?
  4. How do you determine what software or product is right for a particular merchant?
  5. With so many competitors in your industry, what do you offer that is different?
  6. What is the biggest mistake a business owner can make when choosing a payments technology company?
  7. Do you have any advice for business owners?

Smart Merchants is a credit card processing company providing point of sale systems, merchant loans, consumer finance and marketing products for its merchants. Priding itself on superior service and rates that are typically 35% less than the nearest competition, Smart Merchants is the Processor Merchants trust most.

Websitewww.smartmerchantsclub.com

Social Media Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SmartMerchantsClub
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SmartMerchantsC
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/smartmerchants

People also listened to this: Get high quality IT experts working remotely at a fraction of the usual cost


Compose An Essay Using The Right Approach - Entrepreneur Podcast Network – EPN

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Each professor asks students to write one or another assignment in order to be able to evaluate them and figure out whether they have understood the material the right way. Composing an essay, students need to fulfill their creative potential and express their own opinion on the matter in hand. Thousands of students have a tough time writing such kind of assignment regardless of the fact it is limited in scope. Particular requirements, lack of time, inability to fully cover the topic – all that makes it impossible for students to get A+ and impress their professor.

An increasing number of UK students solve their problem applying for help to essay writing service where they can get a unique, qualitative paper that meets all the professor’s needs and requirements. At the same time, some students are trying to compose the paper on their own, however, it’s not always easy for them to do that, since an essay requires creative approach and careful analysis.  

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Why Essay Matters

Before getting down to composing an essay, it’s worth getting familiar with your professor’s requirements in order to do everything the proper way. Each professor has own approach to evaluating the paper and there are diverse aspects which may affect this evaluation. Most of the professors pay their attention to:

  • the way the topic is covered, whether a student has used the knowledge he/she gained during the studying process;
  • understanding of the matter in hand and ability to express own opinion on the topic given;
  • a possibility to perceive the required data and information, find all the necessary sources and use them the right way.

Composing one or another assignment in a short amount of time, you are able to demonstrate to the professor your skill of planning the work and manage your time effectively.

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Key Aspects To Pay Attention To

You need to take further aspects into account when composing an essay:

  • An introduction and conclusion have to focus reader’s attention on the issue you are covering.
  • It’s required to highlight paragraphs and put everything in the logical order.
  • Write in narrative style: emotional, expressive, imaginative. It’s suggested to write short sentences avoiding long words and terms which are hard for understanding.

It’s also necessary to pay attention to the following questions. Answering them, it will be easier for you to figure out all the aspects and points you need to include in your assignment.

Ask yourself when writing about your character traits and skills:

  • How are you different from other people having this trait?
  • How has certain skill helped you achieve your goal?
  • What trait would you like to develop?

Cornering your hobbies, activities:

  • What is the most interesting thing you may tell about your hobby?
  • Why do you want to be engaged in this activity?

About the story/event you’ve mentioned in your essay:

  • Why have you decided to write about this exact event?
  • What way has it influenced you?

About a person you’ve mentioned in your paper:

  • Why have you decided to write about this person?
  • What traits do you admire in this person?
  • Did this person help you change your worldview?

About your failures:

  • What lessons have you learnt from your failures?
  • Do you think your failures have helped you become a better person?

You don’t have to express any unique thoughts or ideas, you just have to express you own opinion on the matter in hand. It’s also essential to be able to argue for your thesis and prove your point, that’s why it is suggested you to immerse yourself in a subject, read as much info about the topic of your essay as possible and find the approach which will help you perfectly convey your message to the readers.

The most important thing you need to keep in mind is that each point of your essay has to be argued and supported with facts. The more information, data and sources you use when composing an assignment the better. At the same time, don’t write too many examples. It’s enough to give one or two examples in order to convey your thought. Remember, it’s forbidden to claim someone else’s ideas as own; if you would like to quote someone, then it is necessary to cite the quotation or text you use.

Don’t cut it close and always remember about the deadline in order to be able to compose your essay beforehand, proofread it and make all the necessary corrections.

Electrotherapy: What it is and How it Works - Entrepreneur Podcast Network – EPN

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Electrotherapy entails the application of an electric current that provides beneficial effects for those suffering from muscle related conditions, neurological disorders, chronic pain, pain associated with injury or surgery and much more. This medical technique has attracted widespread attention in recent years for its ability to provide relief without subjecting the patient to the potentially odious side effects of various medications. 

How it Works

During electrotherapy an electric current is brought to bear on the affected tissue. This current is generated by a device specially designed for the purpose of stimulating damaged or weakened tissue and to rejuvenate and revitalize it in the process. Treatment variables will include the amount of electricity applied, the type of current applied, the particular body part being treated and the condition of that body part. Of course the efficacy of the procedure also depends in large part on the quality of the device used to deliver the treatment. Therefore, when considering which therapist to see it’s important that you ask them what type of device they use. What you will want to hear back is that they use a state of the art device like the Stereodynator.

The Potential Benefits of Electrotherapy

Electrotherapy has been shown to provide a range of benefits that may have previously been difficult for people suffering various maladies to achieve. Those benefits include:

  • Increased range of motion – Electrotherapy has proven itself effective in reducing the type of swelling that often accompanies injury. By alleviating this swelling patients are able to achieve greater range of motion as well as pain free movement.
  • Decreased atrophy – Often times when recovering from illness or injury muscles can undergo atrophy (weakening and tightening as a result of disuse). Electrotherapy can rejuvenate dormant muscle tissue which, in turn, helps people get back on their feet faster and stronger.
  • Reduced pain – Electrotherapy has been widely lauded for its ability to penetrate damaged tissue and provide real, significant reduction in pain for many patients. In addition, everyone from weekend warriors to professional athletes embrace electrotherapy as a way of reducing muscle spasms, lower back pain, neck pain and more.

Situations and Conditions When Electrotherapy May be Advised

Electrotherapy is most often used to augment other treatment regimes, or conversely, other treatment regimens are used to augment electrotherapy. The point being that it is not typically a stand-alone treatment. Patients undergoing physical therapy often find electrotherapy allows them to be more limber and thereby participate more fully in the exercise regime the physical therapist has designed for them. Electrotherapy is also coming under scrutiny as a possible alternative to addictive opioid treatments. In addition, electrotherapy is being indicated today to help treat cases of:

  • Fibromyalgia
  • Sports injury
  • Nerve pain related to diabetes
  • Migraine headaches 
  • And much more…

Magne-Tec is at the forefront of the electrotherapy movement and their website holds a shockwave therapy machine like Swiss dolorclast, Lunula and many more. This relevant information for patients and professionals alike. Take a look when you have a chance and open yourself to a new world of healing.

How effective SEO tripled our business - Entrepreneur Podcast Network – EPN

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By Jon Jouvenaux, co-owner of BBB Septic, Storm Shelters, Portable Toilets

Have you ever searched for something online and wondered how the new business that just joined the industry you’re searching in comes to the top of the search results? You might find that businesses who have been in the industry for decades fall well below the new guys who just came on the scene. 

How is that even possible? The answer is, search engine optimization—better known as SEO, which is the art of using higher quantity and quality content to draw more and better leads to your website. Those who are reaching the top of the search result have clearly hired an expert to help them grow their digital marketing. 

Let’s talk about how our company used SEO to nearly triple our business in a relatively short amount of time. With similar steps, you too can grow your business using practical and relatively easy to implement SEO practices. Effective SEO is not a “one and done” thing. It’s a multi-faceted, ongoing process. 

At BBB Septic, we have three distinct service components: septic systems, storm shelter installation, and porta potties. We needed something that drew new customers to each component of that business. 

Business was going well, but it could have been better. We had great word-of-mouth and return business, but that was all from customers we already had. The point was to find customers who didn’t know we were out there. That’s where drastically upping our digital marketing and, in turn, our SEO, came into play. 

We hired a team of consultants who are experts in their respective fields and who all work together to grow our business. We have professionals in website design, writing, social media, and SEO to work together to grow our business. 

Social Media

Another part of the new plan was to increase and, more importantly, improve our social media presence. We hired a marketing agency that helps us not only provide useful, SEO-rich content, but also measures our outcomes. This allows us to know what our followers are reacting to and how those reactions are converting to new business. It’s more than simply asking people “so, where did you hear about us?” 

Behind the scenes SEO 

Our SEO consultant works with our website designer and social media manager to help provide the best possible reach for our portable toilet rentals, septic services, and storm shelter services. He is also working to improve our SEO through various other practices including link building and other effective, reputable ways of increasing traffic to our website. 

New, multi-site website

That leads to the most recent component of our enhanced marketing approach: our new website. We chose to convert to using WordPress, which offers a multi-site feature. The multi-site approach allows us to have several distinct but related websites that are all connected to each other. They work together to improve SEO and our ability to inform readers who reach our website about what we do, who we are, and how we solve their problems. 

When we first started diving into the digital marketing world, we used a third-party website that curated content for us but ultimately it wasn’t enough to do what we needed. The third-party website had the same look, feel, and even similar content to other companies that offered similar services. What’s more is, the site only focused on the septic installation, maintenance, and repair side of the business. 

That meant that we were getting little to no SEO benefit for our portable toilet and storm shelter services. We did have a blog for our storm shelter business, but it wasn’t connected to our website, so the SEO benefits were not as good. 

With our new multi-site website, each site has its own URL (web address), has its own embedded blog, and they are all connected to each other. As you can see when you visit BBBSeptic.com, you can visit our site that is dedicated to septic service, our site that is for portable toilets, and our site that is dedicated for storm shelters. Each site has its own home page, about page, and services pages. Even the home pages and about pages are different on each site because they highlight the related services. 

Now, when you look at all of this, you might be thinking that it’s impossible to measure if all these efforts are actually doing anything. 

That’s one of the biggest myths when it comes to SEO. 

If you have someone who understands SEO and all the right practices and analytics, you can easily see what effect it is having on your business. Not only can you see the ongoing analytics, but you can also see the proof in how your business is affected. We have tripled our business in three years, which is the timeframe of when we really started paying attention to our digital marketing. 

An introduction to making businesses a force for good with Valeria Duflot - Entrepreneur Podcast Network – EPN

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Copyright Venezia Autentica

Valeria Duflot the Co-founder of Venezia Autentica a social impact startup based in Venice, Italy joins Enterprise Radio to discuss making businesses a force for good.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Valeria Duflot discuss the following:

  1. Could you please give us a quick introduction on what you mean by business as a force for good?
  2. You run a social business yourself could you tell us more about it? What is the social challenge you identified and how you are trying to fix it?
  3. What are the components you think are essential to the success of a for-profit social enterprise?
  4. What are the most important lessons you have learned with Venezia Autentica and your previous ventures and initiatives?
  5. You believe conscious businesses are the future? Why are they important?

Tip: Your mission is your best asset. Identify a real societal or environmental challenge and communicate it clearly. You will build yourself the best marketing advantage possible: true vocal fans, advocating for your business on your behalf.

Valeria Duflot believes business and innovation should be forces for good. She is a co-founder of Venezia Autentica, a social business based in Venice, Italy.  Prior to her current role, Valeria co-started and run a performance and community space in Bangalore, and worked as an international consultant in the health industry.

Valeria has hosted, (co)-organised and curated numerous events and festivals in the field of tech, innovation, performance arts, and entrepreneurship.

In December 2017, The Local listed her as one of the 7 most inspiring people of the year and her work has been featured in publications and media such as Rolling Stones, BBC, Arte TV, Slate.fr, Conde Nast Traveler, National Geographic Traveler and more.

Valeria is trilingual and holds degrees in Health & Biology and Business. She is also a neuro and mental health advocate.

Venezia Autentica: 
Website: veneziaautentica.com
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/veneziaautentica/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/veneziaautentic

Get in touch with Valeria
Website: valeriaduflot.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DuflotValeria

People also listened to this: Choosing A Payments Company

Rona Borre is “The Chicago Tech Connector” - Entrepreneur Podcast Network – EPN

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Rona Borre, Founder & CEO of Instant Alliance, a leading strategic IT staffing firm in Chicago joins Enterprise Radio to discuss building a business through strong relationships.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Rona Borre discuss the following:

  1. How did you come up with the idea to start Instant Alliance?
  2. How do you empower/motivate your team?
  3. What do you see being the next “big” thing in recruiting (tech specifically)?
  4. What is one piece of advice you would give other women who are looking to get into the tech industry?
  5. Your biggest pet peeve when interviewing someone?

Conclusion: When it comes to networking and making progress in your career, make sure to value the relationships you’ve built. No matter who you’re dealing with, always be respectful and kind. As you grow in your career, you are sure to cross paths with people you’ve worked with previously, and you never know how someone could positively or negatively impact your success/failure.

Rona Borre leads Chicago as a human capital thought-leader, proving that good talent is a major differentiating factor in an organization’s success.

Since starting Instant Alliance in 2001, Rona has filled thousands of tech and finance jobs in the Chicagoland area. Through her extensive relationships, Rona’s team recently filled roughly 100 positions with McDonald’s, including Amy Martin as the Global CMO. Rona’s reputation as a trusted advisor and hands-on partner has led to Instant’s 97% client return rate. Her success in strategic IT staffing has paved the way for other women who are interested in entering the tech space. As a leader in the Chicago community, Rona sits on the board and holds leadership roles with the Economic Club of Chicago, the Young Presidents Organization and The Chicago Network.

Rona has received several awards including The Business Ledger’s Influential Women in Business and Enterprising Woman of the Year by Enterprising Women Magazine.

Websitehttps://www.instantalliance.com

Social Media Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/instantalliance
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/1nstantAlliance

People also listened to this:  An introduction to making businesses a force for good with Valeria Duflot

Do You Know Why Whiteboard Animations are So Successful? - Entrepreneur Podcast Network – EPN

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If you own a business and have a lean budget for marketing, it is more than likely that you are already using whiteboard animations and possibly reaping the benefits as well. Just in case you are not using whiteboard animation yet, or the performance of the current work is not up to the mark, click here to know how businesses can create brilliant whiteboard animations to promote growth, branding, and sales. However, that leads us to the main question: what is it that makes these simple illustrations so effective, to begin with? Well, the answer is not as complicated as one may think.

Royalty Free Photo

Simplicity and Psychology

According to top experts in human psychology, whiteboard animations are not just simple to look at; that same simplicity makes them easily retainable in our memories as well. In fact, it has been proven that any message delivered with the help of a well-made whiteboard animation will be remembered by the audience better than when it is done via just about any other form of video. Building better retention in the audience’s memory is, of course, one of the main aims of a campaign. This is the biggest reason why whiteboards are so successful.

Getting the Attention and Quitting in Time

Particularly on social media and also in general, an audience doesn’t really have a long attention span, so the idea is to gain their attention, keep things engaging, and quit before the video overstays its welcome. Whiteboard animations catch the attention of the audience easily because the onlookers do not feel as if they have to use a lot of brainpower to comprehend what is being shown on screen, which is down to the simplicity of the medium itself. In spite of being simplistic, it is a form of video and videos are thousands of time more potent in delivering information to the human brain than text. This advantage, in combination with the simple nature of whiteboards, help brands deliver a lot of information within a very short span of time, information that doesn’t exceed the maximum attention span of the average audience, as well as being quite easy to remember at the same time.

Emotional Attachment

As human beings, we tend to remember the things that we form an emotional attachment with; this is a fact that’s as true in personal life as it is in business marketing and branding. A whiteboard animation appeals to the emotional side of the audience in various ways, making the content easier to associate with, remember, recall and understand at the same time. Depending on the nature of the content though, the emotions will vary, of course, but the basic idea is to invest the audience in the content emotionally so that they can identify with it. Once an emotional attachment has been achieved, the chance of converting that connection into a sale is significantly higher.

Affordability

Initially, it may seem as if affordability has little to do with a marketing medium’s rate of success, but in the real world, it has everything to do with success rates. Consider the fact that in spite of being one of the most effective marketing strategies, whiteboard animations are cheaper to produce than other forms of video content. This creates the opportunity for the marketing budget to be better utilized in the following two ways.

Firstly, affordability gives you the license to make more content, without exceeding the budget. As a result, this creates the scope for a much wider campaign, either directed towards a wider target audience or targeting a select group from multiple potent angles.

Secondly, the affordable nature of whiteboard animations might leave enough financial resources available for pursuing other avenues of marketing and branding as well. After all, a complete campaign needs to consist of a multidimensional strategy and whiteboards are perfect for that. The main advantage here is that companies with a shoestring budget can still get a great campaign going by just using whiteboard animations, but for those that have the bigger budget, they are free to incorporate other mediums into it as well.

Simplifying the Complexities

Consider whiteboard animations to be similar to what our teachers used to do back in school while trying to explain a particularly difficult concept to the class. The use of the whiteboard is quite similar to that practice, only more enhanced and resourceful, of course. These animations explain complex ideas and concepts by breaking them down and reconstructing them in a step-by-step process, supported appropriately with examples. As one would expect, that makes it a great tool to spread brand awareness and for explaining new ideas in a positive light to both customers and employees.

Perhaps another huge factor that’s responsible for the increase in conversion rates which whiteboards are so often responsible for, is the versatility of the style’s applications. Everything from education and awareness to marketing and branding can benefit from these simple animations, making it one of the most versatile media tools available. The universal nature of whiteboard animations even transcends industrial limitations because one would be hard-pressed to find any industry that can’t use them to get their message across to their specific target audience in an innovative, yet simple manner, as long as the artists behind the project work in perfect sync with the project heads. It’s not that hard to edit whiteboards either, so making changes if and when necessary is also easier and faster than it is with other forms of video content.

5 ECommerce Optimization Tips that Actually Work - Entrepreneur Podcast Network – EPN

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You have great products and you are ready to sell to the world. How do you get the information out there? How do you optimize for ecommerce? There are so many tips available, but what is the right way to do things? In this article, we are going to talk about 5 ecommerce optimization tips that actually work.

#1. Use a Design that Is Free of Clutter and Focused On Your Products

When you go to your website, what is the first thing that you notice? Are your eyes pulled in all different directions because you aren’t sure what you are supposed to be looking at? Having a design that is clutter free but focused on your products will allow you to keep more visitors on your site.

Your visitor shouldn’t have to try to figure out what you are selling. Your brand and your products should be the star of the show. Make sure to use the highest quality images that you can possibly take. People are going to be staking their money on this product and if that pictures aren’t high quality, how can you be sure that the product is high quality?

Depending on what platform you have used to build your ecommerce store, there are likely plenty of easy ways to be able to enhance the look and function of your store. Some of those ways are through apps and themes, but you have to see what is available for your specific ecommerce platform.

#2. Prominently Display Your Phone Number

Even if you don’t want an onslaught of phone calls, you can display your phone number on the site to build trust. Most people don’t want to call, they just want to know that they could call if they wanted to. You should make sure that you check the phone number in case any important calls come through, but you may not receive any calls from your visitors.

If you do not want to put your own phone number up online, you can always get a virtual phone number in order to take these calls so that you can keep your personal and business phones separate.

#3. Address Pain Points

If there are any concerns (and there are) that your customer has, make sure to address those pain points up front. There may be an issue of worry about the cost of shipping. If you offer free shipping, put that somewhere people are able to see it easily. If you offer quick and easy returns, let people know that as well. Whatever pain points are valid in your industry, deal with as many of them as possible so that you can overcome the customer’s internal objections.

#4. Display Pricing and Shipping Where It Is Easy to Read

If you are sneaky about your pricing and your shipping costs, people may get to the end of the checkout process and back out of it all together. Being upfront with how much items cost and how much you charge for shipping will allow people to make a decision when they put it in their cart and they are more likely to go through with it if they knew the price the whole time.

According to GetElastic 95.5% of consumers noted that clear pricing and shipping was important to them and played a part in their buying or not buying decision. Just because people put something in their cart, it does not mean they are going to keep it in their cart.

#5. Trustmarks

You may not think that trustmarks make any difference with how people buy from your site, but people pay close attention to whether a site is trustworthy or not. One of the ways they do this is by the associations they have. If you put things like your payment methods that you accept and their logos as well as any site security, you will find that people are more likely to do business with your ecommerce store.

While some websites will not find trustmarks helpful, if you are selling anything online and asking people for their credit cards, you need all of the help that you can get. There are different trustmarks for different things. As mentioned above, you can have the logos of the credit cards you accept, but you can also have logos from virus protection and SSL certificate companies to show that you have gone through tests and have secured your website to keep their private information private.

Conclusion

Optimizing your ecommerce site can look different from one site to another depending on your target market. If you are selling to an extremely technical group then you might do well to invest in more technical writing that will explain the ins and outs of a given product. If you are selling to someone that only has a high-level knowledge of the products or services, you might not need to do this at all. You might find that a simple explainer video or photos might suffice. This is why knowing who your customer will be is very important.

Putting all of the information together from above and implementing the tips will give you a sound strategy that will enable you to have a site that is user friendly that evokes trust from the potential customers that come to visit and purchase one of your products.

Source: 

https://www.tavanoteam.com/digital-marketing/8-ways-to-build-trust-for-your-ecommerce-website

https://optinmonster.com/ecommerce-optimization-guide/

https://www.getelastic.com/customer-expectations


5 clear signs you need to look for a new web hosting company - Entrepreneur Podcast Network – EPN

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Everything is switching to the web these days. Most of the work that was previously done physically is now happening in a digitalized form. Web hosting companies are required to maintain an online presence. But many people who are new to managing websites end up choosing wrong hosting providers and have to change later. Here we have prepared a list of some issues that make it clear that you need to start looking for other hosting options such as Hostiserver, GoDaddy and Host Gator.

Unreliability of service 

When you are choosing a hosting company for your website reliability should be your number one priority. If your website keeps crashing and going down, it can be awful for business. The reliability of any website is measured in terms of its uptime. Any respectable hosting provider must have an average uptime of at least 98 or 99 percent. So if your site is repeatedly crashing and you’re up time is going lower than 98 percent you should start looking at options for a better hosting provider.

The inability of the hosting service to grow with the growth of your business

Growth is a part of every business. If you are thinking of expanding your business or you want to increase your online exposure you will require more processing power and server space then you previously had. Now if your current web hosting company is not able to fulfill your requirements, then you may have to make a move to another hosting company. You should opt for a hosting provider that has compatibility for growing website and business so that you don’t have to change your hosting provider again in the middle of a contract.

Unsatisfactory data security

Data security is an essential task in the management of any website. It has to be made sure that your data is safely backed up and available for recovery in case of a system failure. Also, your data must be secure from any unauthorized access. This is possible only if your hosting provider has a decent security system and strong firewalls. Big and respectable hosting companies spend a lot of resources on security. So if you feel that the security required by your web host is not satisfactory, you should gain the services of another hosting company which has better security features.

Low loading speeds

Another major problem that is faced by many people is low loading speeds of web pages. Having a quick responsive website is very important. If a website is taking too long to load people will opt for other websites which leads to your loss and the gain of your competition. This is a clear sign that your hosting provider is not meeting the requirements of your web page. So, you have to choose some other hosting company with better and more powerful servers that can keep up with the required speed of your website.

Lack of support features 

A necessary feature of any respectable web hosting provider is a dedicated customer support service. High-level hosting providers also provide many other support systems like automated and scheduled backups and automatic recovery in case of any system failure. This support is essential for the smooth functioning of any website. And your web hosting provider must have these features. If it is not so then, you will, of course, need to start discussing other options for web hosting.

About the Author:
Barbara Morgan is an IT enthusiast based in the USA. She is professional web developer with a passion to dig into Linux servers tuning. She regularly posts at hostiserver.com – Managed Hosting Provider in USA.

How 3PLs Help eCommerce Brands Grow Bottom Lines - Entrepreneur Podcast Network – EPN

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Maria Haggerty, CEO of Dotcom Distribution, a leading third-party logistics provider that serves as a strategic partner to emerging eCommerce brands joins eCommerce Radio to share some of the ways 3PLs help eCommerce brands meet their bottom lines.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Maria Haggerty discuss the following:

  1. Sales is the #1 metric in eCommerce and inventory management is a major part of that. What are the most basic things a brand must keep in mind when planning their inventory management strategy?
  2. Shipping is a huge expense for eCommerce companies. What are some of the benefits those companies are able to realize when they have an experienced 3PL partner like Dotcom Distribution?
  3. Creating a memorable experience for online shoppers is a powerful tactic for eCommerce brands; in fact, Dotcom Distribution conducted a study that illustrates the neurological effects it can have on a person. Why is this such a powerful tool of influence?
  4. Omni-channel strategy continues to be an increasingly dominant factor in retail success. Why is it so important that eCommerce brands bridge the gap between the online and in-store shopping experience?
  5. In your experience, what is the #1 most common challenge that brings Dotcom customers to you, and how do you help them solve it?

Conclusion: There’s a lot of clutter to complete with in the eCommerce space, and no signs of a slow-down in that regard. One of the absolute most important things you can do to retain your customers’ business is ask yourself, “how can we make their experience even better?” Delivering positive customer experiences is what will separate you from the pack—or in this case, the package. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to this, though, so it’s crucial to make sure that, whether you have an internal operations manager or a 3PL, you have the guidance and means to optimize your fulfillment strategy.

Maria Haggerty is one of the original founders of Dotcom Distribution. She received her Bachelor of Business Administration from University of Houston, C.T. Bauer College of Business with a concentration in Accounting. Maria plays an integral role in developing and defining all aspects of the business, including sales and marketing, operations, finance and IT.

As CEO, she is responsible for providing strategic leadership, establishing long range goals, and developing strategies for the senior leadership team. Maria has developed the systemic and procedural infrastructure necessary to provide timely and accurate analysis of budgets, financial reports and financial trends in order to assist the Board, senior executives and clients in performing their responsibilities while achieving favorable results. She works closely with the leadership team to enhance, develop, and enforce procedures that will improve the overall operation and effectiveness of the corporation.

During her tenure at the Dotcom, Maria has developed an environment of continual improvement by supporting the Senior Leadership Team and their department managers on continuous process, space labor, automation, and financial best practices. Prior to founding Dotcom, Maria was a CPA at Arthur Andersen and was later the CFO of GoodTimes Home Video where she helped grow the company’s distribution business. When Maria is not in the office, she enjoys traveling around the world and practicing her photography skills.

Websitewww.dotcomdist.com

Social Media Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DotcomDist
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dotcomdist

People also listened to this:  How to expand to a second market to grow your eCommerce store

Financial Information Every Business Owner Needs to Succeed - Entrepreneur Podcast Network – EPN

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David Duryee, Managing Director of Horizon Management Services LLC that does business consulting, succession planning and financial training joins Enterprise Radio to discuss financial information every business owner needs to succeed.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest David Duryee discuss the following:

  1. Why it’s important to prepare an annual business plan? And in your experience what percentage of businesses prepare a business plan?
  2. Profit and cash flow are not the same. What is cash flow?
  3. When is high growth in revenue and profit bad?
  4. Six rules when dealing with the bank (establish a good personal relationship; be prepared to answer questions; keep your banker informed; never bluff if you don’t understand something then ask for an explanation and never surprise your banker)
  5. How should a business owner best work with the CPA?

David Duryee is the Managing Director of Horizon Management Services LLC and has been active in business consulting, succession planning and financial training for over 35 years. Duryee has a BA and MBA in finance from the University of Washington and graduated from Pacific Coast Banking School with honors.

A lecturer with business owners, bankers and professionals, Duryee sits on the boards of several corporations. He is the author/co-author of five financial management books, including his latest release, 60 Minute CFO: Bridging the Gap Between Business Owner, Banker and CPA, a best-selling book that includes complimentary analysis and forecasting software. Duryee divides his time between California and Oregon.

Website: www.60minutecfo.com

Social Media Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/David.Duryee60MinuteCFO
Twitter: @dduryee789

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Steps On How To Hire For Web Design Lisbon - Entrepreneur Podcast Network – EPN

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Since the invention of the internet, many new career paths have been created. Other, preexisting career paths have gained new opportunities. This includes new marketing techniques, new publishing venues, new tools for artists, and so many other things. One of the new careers that the internet created is that of a web designer. It is a web designers job to create an amazing, eye-catching portal for consumers to visit and learn more about a given business or organization. It is a valid career choice for anyone who loves building amazing things on the internet. Many people consider becoming a web designer but do not know how to accomplish this goal. Like anything else in life, there are certain steps that must be taken. If you are considering setting out on the path to becoming a web designer, you need to know what the steps are, what order to take them in, and how to accomplish them. This information, as well as much more, can be found here. Contained here is a list of the most important steps to take, how to go about completing each step, as well as a great deal of other relevant information.

Step Number One – The first step to making any career decision is to determine if this is the right path for you. There are several ways to go about this. The obvious advice would be to take some time for reflection and determine what it is you really want. While this is good advice, there is more to making an important, potentially life-changing, decision. One of the best places to begin this journey is with a bit of research. At this point in the journey, the most important aspects to look at are what it is like to be a web designer, hours, fees, things of this nature. Look first for blogs, stories, any personal account from a practicing or past web designer. This will give you an inside look at what it’s really like to be in the profession of designing websites. To find these stories you will need to search for specific keywords. For example, if you are in Lisbon type into the search bar “webdesign lisbon” and you will be presented with a list of wonderful information. If, after looking at these stories you still want to continue your journey, the next step is to search for information about average salaries, hours on the job, and local companies to work for. The next point of research will involve looking into working for a company versus starting your own business or even freelancing.

Step Number Two – If you are satisfied with all of your research and are ready to move forward on your journey, it is time to begin the second step. This step revolves around making sure you have the necessary education needed to be a website designer. There are a few options that you can take and this step is all about deciding which option is best for you. The first possibility is to go for a bachelor’s degree. This can be in the field of computer science, communications, or business. The other option is to complete a college program in graphic arts, web design, computer science, or business. These programs are available at most colleges and universities, even most technical schools.

Step Number Three – The third step will differ depending on whether you have decided to work for a firm, start your own business, or work solely on a freelance basis. First, we will talk about the third step if you plan on working for an established web design firm. As with any career, it is necessary to obtain experience in related fields to reach the level of job that you want. For a web designer, this experience is generally preferred to come from one of three particular areas. The first is that of computer programming. A large part of building and designing websites revolves around computer programming. It is programs that run everything on a computer including the machine’s ability to construct and display a website and all of its contents.  The seconds that of a graphic designer. A graphic designer has the ability to turn average pixels into amazing, beautiful, and stunning pictures. This is an incredibly important skill for a web designer to have. This is due to the vast amount of graphics that are required to be placed on websites. The third is in web design itself. This is a great way to work your way up; however, it is very difficult to get a job in web design without first having experience in at least one of the previously mentioned areas. If you want an experience directly in web design, you will likely have to build a portfolio on your own.

If you are planning on starting your own business, the third step will be a bit different than if you are joining a firm. While it is still important to gain experience you will also need to begin the process of filling for a business license and other necessary documentation. Information about how to this is very easy to come by. In many areas, it is even possible to file all of the necessary forms online eliminating the necessity to hunt down the physical forms. If you are not sure where to find the forms online, a simple web search will provide all of the links that you need. Simply type in “file for a business license in *insert area here*” or “business license forms online”.

If you plan on working on an entirely freelance basis the third step varies quite a bit from the previous two possibilities. Depending on where you are located, you may need to register as a sole proprietor business while other areas do not require this. You will need to first research the rules and regulations for your specific area to determine what forms need to be filled out, and what needs to be filed. After all of this is completed it is time to begin getting your name out there. There are two main ways to begin this process. One option is to set up profiles on all of the major freelance sites where you will list your specialties, education background, and any relevant experience. After this, you will be able to apply for projects that clients post. The other possibility is to design your own website and reach out via emails, phone calls, and social media posts.

7 Tips To Live And Save On a Shoestring Budget - Entrepreneur Podcast Network – EPN

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Living on a small income—or surviving times when there is no income—is a big challenge for some and a breeze for others. Your success at living happily during trying times depends greatly on your mindset and how quickly you’re able to adapt to your new circumstances.

Not having enough money can indeed be frustrating, but even when you feel there is no scope to cut your expenses further or to save when you’re having a tough time paying the bills, there is still a small possibility somewhere to do more. Here’s how:

Set your priorities and stick with them

When living on a small income, it is essential to define your priorities and share them with family members. Cooking at home versus eating out; watching movies at home; spending on essential clothing items than on the latest fad—decide what’s more important, allocate money to each expense that is essential to your survival, and ditch the unimportant indulgences until you can afford them.

Teach yourself the basics of financial planning

Today there is no dearth of resources to learn a skill, and financial planning is something that everyone should learn early in life. You may be great at creating a simple budget, but the tips and tricks of professional financial planning can help you gain greater insight into your spending and help you build an even more effective income-expenditure plan. Look for free online courses on frugal living and money management.

Set up automatic savings

This is a great way to save even when you feel you’re hardly able to pay your bills. Set a small savings account where a specified sum will be auto-transferred from your checking account the day your salary or income is credited. Even a $25 compulsory saving each month will leave you with $150 at the end of six months.

Also explore money management apps that help keep track of income and spending—some will also help you automate your monthly savings.

Save windfalls and income tax refund

Save any unexpected income (including gifts and prizes), extra income (such as income from freelancing, bonus pay, overtime, and yearly increment) as well as your income tax refund for times when you’ll need more cash than usual. 

Also, make it a habit to collect all the coins lying around the house and put all in a jar where you can see them. Watch your savings grow, and when the jar is full, use it to buy an item of need or for some rare, much-needed self-pampering.

Cut out avoidable expenses

Magazine subscriptions, cable subscription that you use rarely, health club membership (opt for running instead), take-out meals, coffee, junk snacks, packaged beverages, bottled water—if you look close enough, several of your regular expenses can be reduced or plain removed from your life without impacting the quality of your life. In fact, doing away with many of these will only make your lifestyle healthier. So make a list of such items, review it, add the expenses you left out in the original list, reduce or remove them gradually—and watch yourself saving hundreds of dollars each year.

Minimize expenditure on health problems

This is a simple and effective way to save money yet something that requires consistent effort. Adopt a healthy lifestyle, take care of your physical and mental wellbeing, make your happiness a priority—and you’ll see yourself falling sick a lot less often. This would mean fewer medical and drugstore bills and a more charged and happy you ready to take on all sorts of challenges.

Avoid using your credit card as much as possible

Make it a habit to live within your income and spend only what you have. Avoid buying essentials on credit and redo your budget in a way that minimizes the scope for using credit card for buying groceries, paying the bills and fueling up your vehicle.

If a situation arises when you’ve exhausted all your options and need instant cash to meet a contingency, payday loans are an option worth considering. As the name indicates, these are short-term instant-cash loans that are to be repaid on your next payday, which ensures that you will not get entangled in a long cycle of debt, as with credit card debt. You do have the option to carry forward a payday loan; however, that may attract high interest, so it’s better to borrow an amount you can pay off in the next month or so.

Award-Winning Author & Multi-Million Dollar Serial Entrepreneur Mr. Gregory Grant - Entrepreneur Podcast Network – EPN

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Award-Winning Author & Multi-Million Dollar Serial Entrepreneur Gregory Grant with Grant Business Solutions joins Enterprise Radio. Mr. Grant is an innovative franchisee in the 28.6 billion-dollar vehicle leasing industry.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Gregory Grant discuss the following:

  1. What inspired you to take your decades of knowledge and expertise to the nonprofit sector?
  2. What led to your decision to partner with the City of Jacksonville to plan, develop, and successfully deploy the second annual Jacksonville Vetrepreneur Summit?
  3. Why did you decide to turn your Forbes.com referenced article “3 Reasons Why You Must Have A Business Plan” into your award-winning breakout book fittingly titled Small Steps For Doing Big Business?

Gregory Grant is currently an innovative franchisee in the 28.6 billion-dollar (2017 Auto Rental News) vehicle leasing industry. His business holdings in this billion-dollar market consist of MG Auto Leasing Inc. and DBA MG Truck Leasing.

As an Avis Rental and Budget Truck agency owner, his direct responsibility is the management of over 2 million dollars of rotating assets for the third largest rental vehicle company in the auto leasing industry, Avis-Budget Group. He secured, negotiated, and managed contracts with Fortune 500 companies such as Haskell Construction, Bank of America, Rayonier, Army Corps of Engineer, and many others due to his strategically executed leadership directives created by his organization.

Grant’s company MG Auto Leasing, the contracted agency owner, contributes over 1.3 million dollars in annual revenue to Avis-Budget Group’s operating P&L. For more on Mr. Grant click here.

Websitewww.gregorygrant.net

Other important links:

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Getting to YES! Magnetize your Qualified Buyers without Stalls or Objections - Entrepreneur Podcast Network – EPN

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Michela Quilici, CEO MQ Consulting and Business Training Inc. who is an International business growth + marketing expert passionate about supporting coaches, consultants and service professionals joins Enterprise Radio.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Michela Quilici discuss the following:

  1. What inspired today’s topic of Getting to YES and why is it important for our audience?
  2. What are some of the bad habits that business owners may not even be aware of that are preventing their potential clients from saying yes to working with them?
  3. What are some of the most common traps that are causing business owners to leave money on the table?
  4. As business owners, how can we inspire prospects to say yes to our offering?
  5. What is the secret for magnetizing clients?

Michela Quilici is an International business growth + marketing expert; “Business Navigator” is her middle name. She works with coaches, consultants and service professionals who often find themselves spinning their wheels without direction or a plan for knowing what to do and how to do it, to help them authentically market and strategically grow their business with purpose and confidence.

With a relentless passion for helping people be seen and heard, she navigates mission-driven business owners to do the personal and professional work to gain more exposure, magnetize qualified buyers, and double revenues with much less effort.

Despite her successful business career, she has been on a life-long journey of personal growth, which has allowed her to overcome deep emotional and psychological traumas related to not having a voice and not being seen. Her spiritual awareness has helped her transmute these things into ongoing strengths. She even integrates some of the principles she learned from her professional flamenco dance training into her work. She continues to call herself forward to further step into her voice, create her success and succeed against any odds. Her purpose is to inspire others to do the same.

Over the past 17 years she has coached and consulted hundreds of entrepreneurially minded companies globally, from start-up to $20+ million to take business owners and their business to the next level of excellence. Michela has been featured in USA Weekly, Canadian Living Magazine and Profit Magazine. She is a member of the Forbes Coaches Council and is a contributing author in the bestselling book Conscious Business. She is the recipient of numerous marketing and entrepreneurship awards.

Download your free ebook “Stop Giving it all away, and Start Getting your Clients to say YES!” at www.MichelaQuilici.com.

Websitewww.michelaquilici.com

Social Media Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MichelaQulici
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MichelaQuilici

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Kashif Awan to Open Joint Fully Promoted and Signarama Location in Plainfield, IL - Entrepreneur Podcast Network – EPN

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Kashif Awan, Franchise Owner of the new, 10,000 sq. ft., joint Fully Promoted and Signarama location opening on August 14th in Plainfield, IL joins Enterprise Radio.

This episode of Enterprise Radio is working in association with the Franchise Channel.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Kashif Awan discuss the following:

  1. Where is your new Fully Promoted and Signarama located?
  2. What motivated your decision to open your own Fully Promoted and Signarama location?
  3. What is your favorite aspect of being a franchise owner in general?
  4. Is this your first franchise to be opened? What has the process been like?
  5. Do you plan on opening any more Fully Promoted and/or Signarama locations in the future?
  6. What would be your advice to someone who is looking to open their own franchise?

Prior to joining United Franchise Group (UFG) as a new franchisee, Kashif Awan worked in corporate telecom. For more than 18 years, he specialized in project management for AT&T and Ericsson. During his telecom career, he managed projects and programs over $600 million and was responsible for over 300 resources in his teams. Kashif is a resident of Naperville, IL and is excited to embark on this journey as a franchise owner of this unique, joint Fully Promoted and Signarama near his own hometown.

Websites: www.FullyPromotedFranchise.com | www.SignaramaFranchise.com

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How to Protect Your Online Reputation with Your Own Blog - Entrepreneur Podcast Network – EPN

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Online reputation is very important for any business. If you want your business to grow and people to respect your ideas and opinions, then you really have to create your own blog. You want to make sure that you offer customers the best experience, but you also need to protect your company identity and brand as a whole. There will always be some people ready to bring your company down. So you really have to know how to push the boundaries and adapt things to your own needs.

Why is Online Reputation important?

Let’s face it, most people will go online and search info about your business when they want to get stuff from you. But if the info they see is negative, then the results will not be as good as you imagine. That’s why you need to find a unique, creative way to tackle such a problem. Most of the time the best thing that you can do is to do a search for your website and company name to see what pops up. You may also want to study the Online Reputation and focus on removing any potential issues as fast as possible.

How can a blog help your Online Reputation?

One of the best ways to deal with any Online Reputation problems or actually preventing those from appearing is to create a blog. By creating a good blog that offers professional content via text, images or videos, you always get to push the boundaries and offer customers the results they really want. It can pay off immensely and it will surely bring in front the type of benefit that you always wanted, just try to consider all of that.

By creating a blog, you will get to boost a positive image regarding your blog. Just take a look at any of the top blogs on the internet today and you will see how they are creating content to better improve their brand and read. However, this is not an easy process. Doing that is super hard on your own, which is why you need some help and input from others. It’s certainly something that can end up being very time-consuming, but it can surely pay off a lot if you do it adequately. Just remember that the online reputation is all about showing exactly what type of service and benefits you provide. As long as you really work hard and offer professional content via your blog, you do show that your company delivers value and it’s one that matters in the industry.

Make sure that you set up your blog

Most platforms that you can use to create a website allow you to create a blog too. But many companies just don’t use that feature, and it’s a shame. It’s just a whole lot better than waiting to get a good outcome every time. You will like the fact that setting up a blog is so easy that it doesn’t even take a lot of time and effort to obtain good results from it. Ideally, you want to set up everything related to your blog so you can start posting. In case there are any issues, you can easily adjust and adapt that to your own needs.

Treat your audience like the perfect visitor for your site

As a result, you will get to offer them the best information because you know what they want and how they expect you to treat them. That doesn’t mean that the process will be easy. You will have to go ahead again and again and you really have to push the boundaries as much as possible.

What you have to do here is to offer the very best solutions you can. In fact, you can even be descriptive if you want to. The focus has to be on offering a valuable insight and proper information or quality as often as you can. People like the idea of reading a blog to get the information. So you do need to be consistent and you have to provide quality content with similar keywords all the time.

As long as you are consistent and you always push the boundaries as much as you can, nothing will stand in your way. Your focus always has to be on bringing in good content and showing people that you treat them fairly.

But that also means you have to listen to their feedback. Without doing that, you will not be able to get the results you expect, and that can obviously be a problem. We recommend you to push the boundaries as much as you can, and the return on investment can obviously shine immensely in that perspective.

Be authentic

Copying content or rehashing content from other people won’t get you anywhere. A good way to boost the online reputation of your site or brand is to create content that’s unique, reliable and consistent. You always have to push the boundaries and bring in front better content. Offer the best advice you can and keep a similar style while writing. These types of things are the ones that will offer you a good value. It’s certainly one of the better options that you can find out there. It’s definitely not going to offer you any benefits if you just copy others.

Search engines love authentic content and they also encourage you to not copy anyone if possible. As long as you do that you will not have to worry about any issues. If your content is authentic, search engines will obviously rank it higher and that’s basically all the exposure that you need. Whether that’s enough for you or not, that depends. But for the most part it should offer you all the value and benefits that you need.

Support your content with examples, studies and proof

If you want your online reputation to grow, you really need to show that your content is the best out there. Otherwise you won’t really get to stand out. And it’s a shame, especially if you create content that’s very good, reliable and professional. It’s a good idea to add examples, studies and any type of proof that supports your claim. Once you show that you actually did your research, people are bound to take you seriously. But if you don’t have any type of content that supports you adequately, it can be very hard to obtain the value you are seeking, so try to consider all of that as much as you can.

Be consistent

One of the toughest things about keeping a certain online reputation is that you always need to create content and share it. Consistency is key online, no matter what type of work you want to do. So it does make a lot of sense to take your time and adapt things the best way that you can. Yet if you aren’t consistent, you won’t have to worry about any challenges or issues in that perspective. 

When you post often, the search results will be stuffed with links that you create. And we get into that, the more you create content, the better you will feel about promoting your business. After some time it will be something natural and that’s exactly where you want to go at all costs. Sure, there will always be some ups and downs, no one says that things will be perfect here. But you never have to give up, just try to be consistent with your content regardless of the situation.

Think about SEO

Online reputation will always focus on showing people the truth about your company. If you don’t really care about your business and site, then your online reputation will show that. But if you provide proper SEO for your company and you always try to get up there in the search engine results, people will take your notice.

The reputation of your site and brand will continue to improve over time as you continually reach more people. Sure, there will be people that just don’t give you the benefits and outcome you want. That’s why you really need to try and provide the best service and promote your company as much as possible. Nothing will be ideal for everyone. Different people have different tastes, the idea is to focus on professionalism and to always push the boundaries as much as you can.

Each of your posts has to be good, interesting, unique and it needs to have a hook that will always push people to check your content. If it doesn’t have that, then it may not be the best idea to create the same content all the time.

A lot of companies fail because they lack exposure and don’t follow the basics of SEO. But nowadays it’s so easy to get online exposure, all you need is to have the right ideas and to always push the boundaries as much as you can. Nothing is perfect, that’s for sure. But when you know exactly what you want and you always work hard to push things to the next level, nothing will ever stand in your way. Will things be perfect every time? Of course not, there are bound to be some problems here and there. In the end, you always want to take your time and create a content plan. Be organized, focused and bring in the best possible value that you can. With the right planning you will have no problem getting the online reputation you want. Starting a blog is a great first step, and it can totally do wonders for you. All you need is to try and take things to the next level with your approach and it will work really well!

How AI is being used in fintech: Automated bill payments to fraud detection and more - Entrepreneur Podcast Network – EPN

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Shendon Ewans, Co-founder and CEO of Gobbill, an AI-powered, automatic bill payment platform, that protects users against bill scams and takes the hassle out of payments joins Enterprise Radio.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Shendon Ewans discuss the following:

  1. What is Gobbill? Tell us a bit about your team and what you guys do.
  2. Why did you start the company & what problems is Gobbill solving with artificial intelligence (AI) and automated bill payments?
  3. AI has very much become a buzz word in the tech industry but what are some of the practical applications of AI currently being applied in fintech, but also more broadly in a business environment?
  4. Often we hear criticisms of AI, particularly around the issue of robots becoming “too smart”. What role do you think AI will play in our everyday lives? What are the benefits/threats to consumers?
  5. Paperless bills are now mainstream, which presents a lot of potential for bill fraud and scams. Tell us a bit about the bill fraud issue- how big is the problem and how can we keep our money and data safe?
  6. Bills are a big part of daily life. Do you have any advice on how businesses can improve the transaction experience for customers and provide better value?
Shendon Ewans is the CEO and co-founder of automatic bill payment platform, Gobbill. He is a fintech expert, with over 20 years of experience in ICT with small and large organisations, including PwC,  Arthur Andersen, KPMG,  ANZ Bank, Australia Post and the Australian Taxation Office.
He is also the former VP & CTO of an Australian-American biotechnology company and a former adviser in innovation and commercialization for the University of Melbourne, Melbourne Ventures and National ICT Australia (now CSIRO Data61). With strong ties to global fintech markets, Shendon is on a mission to leverage new technology to improve the way businesses and consumers engage with their finance.

Websitehttps://gobbill.com

Social Media Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gobbill
Twitter: @gobbill

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Invoice Financing Benefits Illustrated: Which Types of Businesses Can Benefit from Invoice Financing the Most? - Entrepreneur Podcast Network – EPN

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Are you wondering how invoice financing or factoring can benefit your business? Is this a common practice in your industry? First, there is a difference between financing and factoring. With factoring, you’ll sell your invoices to a third party company, so they’re responsible for collecting. Financing essentially performs as a short-term loan with your invoice as proof that you’ll be able to pay the third party back. 

Any way you slice it, invoice financing and factoring solutions let you get paid on your invoices faster. This means your clients get more time to pay. Here are a few different industries who use financing frequently.  

Trucking/Transportation

Transportation costs are often unpredictable. Trucks, for instance, are never scheduled to break down; repairs are needed at a moment’s notice. Add in the fluctuating cost of fuel, and you might find yourself without the necessary funds to stay on the move. 

When you’re stuck with repairs and expenses, exploring your invoice financing options can be the difference between a successful week’s haul, and falling behind while staying parked.  

Staffing Agencies

Staffing agencies and temp agencies are a necessary middleman between workers and the companies who need them. However, many agencies don’t survive more than a few years in some cases. Experienced, dedicated employees need to be paid regularly, on time. 

No employee is satisfied to keep working while one organization waits for another to pay. That’s where financing and factoring comes in – the agency can use the money to pay the employee while waiting for the company who received the work to pay up. 

Manufacturing

Depending on what’s being manufactured, material costs can exceed even the cost of human staff, and that doesn’t even take into account equipment repair and maintenance. 

There are no excuses when you have orders to fill, and that’s why many manufacturers rely on financing to keep the line moving. They can allow their customers time to pay their invoices while using invoice financing services to pay employees and order materials. 

Consulting

A lot of consultants and professionals work for themselves, and are responsible for collecting what’s owed from a number of different clients. This can mean they have plenty of money on paper (many invoices issued to clients), but none in their account (clients have up to 90 days to pay). 

In the meantime, they have overhead. In order to continue offering their expertise, they’ll use financing to get their money faster. 

Construction

If you run a construction company, you probably don’t ask that your customers pay you within five days of the job being completed. Here too it is common to give the customer a month – or three – to pay in full. 

But until then, you have a crew that isn’t going to stick around for the next job if they haven’t been paid for the one they just helped complete. Or, you need materials, fuel, and more to move onto the next contract. Enter invoice financing.

Conclusion

These industries might use invoice financing the most, but it can work for practically any business. If you’re stuck waiting for invoices to be paid, invoice financing is a fast solution that can help you keep going without missing a beat. 

How To Turn Your Hobby Into A Business - Entrepreneur Podcast Network – EPN

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The saying goes that if you love what you do for a job, you’ll never work a day in your life. This is why many people decide that turning their hobby into a business is the way forward for them. For some this truly is the ultimate way of life – others find that monetizing their favorite pastime is not as fun or as easy as they thought. However, until you try you really will never know, so it is always worth the attempt. Here are some great tips on how to turn your hobby into a business. 

Start Small 

It can be tempting to immediately jump into a new business and think that you will be earning enough to live on right from the start. Although this might be the case in some situations, for the majority of people it does take some time before the business starts to make enough to pay them a good wage. Remember that there are all kinds of business costs to think about that need to be paid before a salary can be drawn. These include being on top of your tax return, rent, insurance, and other taxes. 

It’s best to start off small, working part-time while still at your day job so that you can concentrate on building the business and not have to worry about the money side of things at the beginning. This can come later once you have everything else in place. 

Make Connections 

Networking is a wonderful way to build a business, and can take a hobby to a full time career in a shorter amount of time than it would normally take. Social media is ideal for making these important connections, and by posting your work in groups and creating a business page that people can follow, you will find more customers and more interest. Your ultimate goal should be to become part of the online community, and have your posts shared organically by those who truly love what you do. 

Do Your Research 

Just because you enjoy doing what you do, and even if there are people who tell you it could be a business, you will need to do your research before you begin. It might be that your hobby simply can’t sustain a business, and you might need to branch out and do other things as well. Or it might be that it will always just be a small, part-time kind of business. This can be great if you are just looking for a little extra cash, and it might be exactly what you want to do. Knowing in advance means you can tailor your marketing and your ideas to whichever direction you want and need to go in. 

Plan Ahead 

Even if you don’t want to borrow any money for your business startup, a business plan is something you will need to create. This will be your template for how your business grows, and without it you might easily become lost and perhaps even disillusioned. Having a good plan in front of you will keep you on the right track and ultimately make you more successful. 

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